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User blog:Rando07/More Summer 2015 Sets!
Greetings, ! So today Skull Warrior, Skull Slicer, and Skull Scorpio arrived in the mail, completing my Summer 2015 collection. Just like in the last blog, I'll do a bit of a review for each, along with images detailing the construction processes. Parcelwoo2.JPG ScorpioSlicerWarriorBoxes.JPG|I had to use the Scorpio and Warrior boxes to keep the Slicer's box stable as it would not stand up without support Skull Slicer SSlicerBox.JPG SSlicer01.JPG|This is pretty much all there is to these legs. SSlicer02.JPG SSlicer03.JPG|Thrown on liftarms for support SSlicer04.JPG SSlicer05.JPG SSlicer06.JPG SSlicer07.JPG|Interesting torso was the only fun part of the build for me SSlicer08.JPG SSlicer09.JPG SSlicer10.JPG|Arms are almost identical to the legs SSlicer11.JPG SSlicer12.JPG SSlicer13.JPG|I like this grappling claw thing SSlicer14.JPG SSlicerSpares.JPG|The spare pieces, including Lewa's corrupted Mask of Jungle So, Skull Slicer. After already acquiring Skull Basher, I was not surprised to see that Skull Slicer was actually smaller than my initial prediction. The inclusion of trans-lime green in this set is wonderful, in my opinion. I'm quite fond of the trans-lime, gunmetal silver, and trans-orange colour scheme. As is typical with the new sets, Skull Slicer makes user of a variety of TECHNIC elements for the torso, giving this set a pretty decent MOCing potential. However, he has 4 arms, which means that he has 4 ball joints! The MOCing potential of this set is much greater than I expected. I'm no fan of the stickers on these chest pieces. I feel that they detract from the overall image of the MOC. I can see the kind of look they were going for with the sticker's design, but it doesn't suit the set's heavily skeletal theme. This brings me onto another point, the limbs. I understand that skeletons are skinny and this is what their limbs would look like, but man, these limbs seem very lazy. The 6 limbs consist of 24 pieces in all (excluding the armour on the upper arms), which gives an average of 4 pieces per limb. This is, in fact, larger than the average for a creation with the standard limbs (excluding armour), which would be only 3.5 pieces. I'm aware that these figures may not mean much to some of you, but to me they indicate thrown-together limbs that make the MOC look skinny instead of skeletal. It's just a bit uninspiring. The overall look of the MOC is, well, a skeleton with 4 arms. It achieves this relatively well, but I think this mainly lends itself to the trans-lime rib cage piece. The use of the armour on the upper arms is a nice touch. I prefer the look of the gunmetal silver HF piece with the claw sticking out of it because it gives Skull Slicer a much cleaner, intimidating look. I'm not a fan of the other armour piece. It's quite clunky and doesn't suit the theme of the set. One positive I have to point out is the weaponry. I like the look of the grappling claw, which also contains some handy TECHNIC elements. The other 3 blades are also quite nice, and I can see them being used on a variety of MOCs. The use of the liftarms on the feet for stability is a nice idea, but it unfortunately does not help much in my experience. I often had to have the set lean forward or bend its legs significantly to reduce the risk of it falling over due to its top heaviness. Overall, I'd give Skull Slicer a 6.5/10. Skull Scorpio SScorpioBox.JPG SScorpio01.JPG SScorpio02.JPG SScorpio03.JPG SScorpio04.JPG SScorpio05.JPG|Not a bad start to this build so far SScorpio06.JPG SScorpio07.JPG|Really fun build... SScorpio08.JPG|Up until this point :/ SScorpio09.JPG|Strange 3-point pincers/claws SScorpio10.JPG SScorpio11.JPG SScorpio12.JPG|Now begins the rather odd tail SScorpio13.JPG SScorpio14.JPG|Rubber band! :D SScorpio15.JPG SScorpio16.JPG SScorpio17.JPG SScorpio18.JPG SScorpio19.JPG SScorpio20.JPG SScorpio21.JPG|The tail has a neat little mechanism, though that's really the only positive comment I have for it SScorpio22.JPG|Well, those claws are at least good for something SScorpioSpares.JPG|Spare pieces, including Pohatu's corrupted Mask of Stone It's not secret that I dislike the Skull Scorpio. After getting my hands on the set and building it for the first time, I'd like to think my dislike was well-founded. The beginning of the build was great, in my opinion. Slotting together lots of TECHNIC pieces is fun, and seeing the main frame of the set is quite satisfying. There are a number of useful liftarms. In particular, two of these and two of these. As a result, the MOCing potential of Skull Scorpio is excellent. The colour scheme isn't bad either. Definitely my least favourite of the new sets, but still not a bad colour scheme. However, this is where the positives end. The legs are, well, immobile. You cannot bend them without directly bending the plastic, and there is no mechanism to move the legs in any direction. Perhaps he just, kind of, drags himself along with his claws? Speaking of his claws/pincers, they're a bit strange. They only have 2 independently moving parts, which is nice, but those two parts are parallel to one another. While I don't agree with the design choice there, it does, in fact, make it easier for Skull Scorpio to hold onto things. They just look very awkward. The anatomy of this set gets stranger and stranger. While the tail is clearly supposed to represent the tail of a scorpion, it doesn't actually resemble one. It widens towards the top with those blades, which actually resemble pincers more than the pincers themselves. The tail isn't all bad, though. By pushing down the exposed liftarm, the tail moves forward and the blade pieces come together. Pretty handy for grabbing masks and whatnot. One point I'd like to make is that scorpions, like spiders, are classified as arachnids. This means that they have 8''' legs. Skull Scorpio is obviously based on a scorpion, so it would be nice to at least see something a bit more anatomically correct. While I know that LEGO doesn't have to give it 8 legs, this kind of thing bugs me. Overall, Skull Scorpio receives 4/10 from me. Skull Warrior SWarriorBox.JPG SWarrior01.JPG SWarrior02.JPG|Clawed feetsies SWarrior03.JPG SWarrior04.JPG SWarrior05.JPG SWarrior06.JPG SWarrior07.JPG SWarrior08.JPG|Pretty typical mechanism for this guy, essentially identical to the ones found on the Masters SWarrior09.JPG SWarrior10.JPG SWarrior11.JPG SWarrior12.JPG SWarrior13.JPG SWarrior14.JPG|The addition of this blade makes him fairly top heavy SWarrior15.JPG SWarrior16.JPG SWarrior17.JPG SWarrior18.JPG SWarrior19.JPG SWarrior20.JPG|At this point it looks more like a pickaxe than a bow SWarrior21.JPG|I love this weapon SWarrior22.JPG SWarriorSpares.JPG|Spare pieces, including Kopaka's corrupted Mask of Ice Now onto Skull Warrior, easily my favourite of the three today. Personally, the colour scheme of trans-light blue, gunmetal silver, and trans-orange is fantastic. It works especially well in the legs and torso of the Skull Warrior. The set is also the only truly asymmetrical figure of the Summer 2015 wave in terms of appearance, as it evident with his limbs. The swapping of the limb pieces for the legs gives Skull Warrior a much much rawer appearance and makes it look more like a warrior. I'm not sure why the claws are there since they honestly don't provide much in the way of stability, but I guess they look nice and help to balance out the colours. The sticker on this figure is actually the only one that doesn't throw me off the look of the set. However, the red band across the top of the chest piece is definitely out of place. The arrangement of the armour on his arms is actually typical of most archers, with the bow hand being less armoured than the draw hand for better accuracy when aiming. Yes, this is not a typical bow or archer, since its undead and there is no draw string or arrows, but it's definitely a nice touch. The bow itself is essentially an enlarged version of the Protector of Jungle's bow. There's also another weapon attached to his back should he run out of studs to fire. However, the articulation of the set is hindered due to the limited movement when holding the bow. The trans-light blue pieces on the bow are the same as those used for the legs of Skull Scorpio. They function better as bow limbs than as actual limbs, which I thought was funny. While there is definitely a nice collection of TECHNIC pieces, particularly in the bow and torso, the MOCing potential of Skull Warrior is not that impressive. But this is only a minor concern and has no effect on the set's appearance whatsoever. In fact, the Skull Warrior's appearance is great, in my opinion. The pairing of the colour scheme and archer-like appearance gives Skull Warrior an excellent standing among BIONICLE's second generation sets. Definitely one of my favourites, I give Skull Warrior an 8.5/10. SWarriorbox1.JPG|I will be writing a strongly worded complaint regarding the condition of my package upon arrival SWarriorbox2.JPG|Just kidding, it doesn't bother me much Now for a height comparisons among the new sets. Heightcomparison01.JPG|The 3 I reviewed today SkullVillains.JPG|All the Skull villains As a bonus for reading this far down the page, this is how I store my Skull Spiders. I will be reviewing the new sets on video soon. I'm close to acquiring a tripod which will allow me to film hands-free, and will allow me to make even more videos. Stay tuned for those! —[[User:Rando07|'''Rando]][[User talk:RandoMaster07|'07']] 18:18, July 16, 2015 (UTC) Category:Blog posts Category:Blog posts